Rayale To Spend Several Millions $ On A Private Trip To The UK, Germany And USA

Hargeysa, Somaliland, August 12, 2006 (SL Times) – Ahmed Hashi Dhimbil was among a number of individuals who facilitated Somaliland president Dahir Rayale’s recent visit to 5 countries in eastern and central Africa. He discussed the significance of the president’s African tour with the Somaliland Times last week.

Mogadishu, Somalia, August 12, 2006 (SL Times) – A group that broke away from the Mogadishu [Islamic] courts recently announced in Mogadishu the formation of a new group called Al-Shabaab [the Youth].

The new group is reported to be made up of young militia who erstwhile belonged to the courts' alliance, which fought and defeated the [capital] warlords. The new group is led by Adan Hashi Ayrow, who is said to have been trained in Afghanistan and is among the people listed in the US as a terrorist.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Public Statement

New York, August 6, 2006 – Amnesty International reiterates its call for an immediate, full and effective ceasefire after civilian death highs. On Friday 5 August, at least 23 Syrian agricultural workers were killed by Israeli forces on a farm in the village of al-Qaa on the Lebanese-Syrian border according to various reports. This was the highest number of fatalities recorded so far in a single incident together with the attack on a building in Qana on 30 July. Over the past four days, rockets fired by Hizbullah from southern Lebanon at Israel are also said to have killed at least 14 civilians. These kinds of attacks by both sides have become part of an increasingly entrenched pattern which includes war crimes.

The lexicon of the anti-Somaliland camp revolves around several mantra words such as dissent, limited government acreage of influence, clan dominancy, hijacked will, secessionist, northwestern Somalia, accidental president, pre-colonial, post colonial. They tell us if you are democratic why do you suffocate dissent voices, why do you arrest and deport native Somalilanders who oppose Somaliland 's decision to withdraw from the union. We tell them you are right my sisters and brothers we should not be doing that. Either we are democratic or we are not. Every Somaliland citizen should have the freedom to voice his/her opinion in Hargeysa; a valid point, well taken. Unlike you, our brothers and sisters, we are democratic and own up to our shortcomings.

Hi, it’s Brian, writing from Berlin. I have one English language TV channel in my apartment here, and, though I should really be watching the local channels to improve my German, I can’t help but occasionally migrate back to the comforting refuge of TV in my native language. (Nothing against the TV here, but I can only take so many dubbed episodes of “The Simpsons” before wanting to throw the remote in frustration. My German is bad enough that I can only understand a few of the jokes, and, besides, they don’t seem translate all that well.)

By Greg Mills and Steve Stead

THE conventional wisdom is that China presents Africa with major threats and opportunities, and that there is growing tension between the US and China over the latter’s evolving African interests. A recent high-level meeting of African, US and Chinese specialists held at Tswalu in the Kalahari found that there was no strategic conflict between the US and China, though this situation was dynamic and could change. And the prospects for such conflict may be heightened by the pursuit of China’s African commercial interests almost exclusively through state-owned firms.

HOPEFUL: Distance legend David Moorcroft is hoping that Mo Farah can finally beat his British 5000m record.

London, August 10, 2006 – BRITISH distance legend David Moorcroft has backed Mo Farah to become a legend in his own right following his sensational performances in his breakthrough year at senior level, writes LUKE WILSON.

The international community headed by the UK and the US have pulled the world into an avoidable global conflict between secularism and ideological Islam. Western powers cooperated in the early 20th century to destroy the final vestige of true Islamic political power in the form of the Ottoman Khilafah. After an initial period of shock, ideological Islam has gradually worked its way back into popularity amongst the masses in the Islamic world, even though Western powers have tried to prevent it.